Rodger's daughter
by Hannahbb21
Summary: Post Rent2005. Mimi is dead and all she left behind a daughter. One who Rodger is now responible for. She is now 15 and Rodger barely knows her. From his daughters point of viewmostly. Enjoy. Rated T to be safe. Please review. Better that it sounds.
1. Chapter 1

This is my first attempt at writing Rent ff. So be nice. This is post rent(2005). Its about Rodgers daughter. Hope you like please review. Sorry for any spelling or grammer mistakes.

Prolog- December 1990

"We are here today to mourn the passing of a wonderful girl. Mimi Marquez. So full of life and hope…." The pastor went on. Rodger wasn't listening though. It was December 1990. Everyone was there, except Mimi. He still hadn't really accepted the fact that she was gone. "Rodger she's crying again why you don't hold her for awhile." It was Joanne. She had been holding Angel for most of the service, but she had started to cry again. Angel was the only thing Mimi had left Rodger with, and he didn't know if he could even take care of her. Angel was only 2 months old, and was born with aids. Rodgers only hope was he wouldn't die and leave Angel all alone. "Thank you everyone for attending." The pastor had finished. Rodger stood to exit along with everybody else Angel still in his arms.

"Rodger take her for a little while" Mark whined. It was right after the memorial service and Mark was already worried about Rodger. Maureen and Joanne stood quietly in the corner, while Collins was lying on the couch; He to had taken a turn for the worse. And nobody was sure how long he had left. That was the case with a lot of Marks friends these days. Wondering how long they'd live. Mark still had his career with the news company and his film had won an award at an independent film festival, but he had more pressing things on his mind at the moment.

Collins couldn't believe it, Mimi and Angel were gone. He had recently quit his job and NYU due to the fact that he couldn't make it to work anymore. He was steadily getting worse. He knew Rodger was too, but Rodger had always been good and hiding those things. Especially now with him having Angel to take care of there was no way he would admit it. He still couldn't believe Rodger was a father. He doubted Rodger could believe. Collins biggest fear was with Mimi gone he would stop writing music; he had been close to having a record deal. Now that Mimi was gone no one was sure of anything.

Chapter 1

"Angel get up! Rodger is going to kill me if you're late to school again." Mark said shaking the sleeping girl. Angel slowly opened her eyes. She was in the apartment she had always lived in, not in Hollywood where she had dreamed she was. Angel was 15 and had lived with her father and his best friend Mark for as long as she could remember. As she was often told by there good friend Maureen a lot had changed, though a lot had stayed the same. They still lived in an old loft in alphabet city, which was next door to the strip club where her mother had danced. He father still didn't have time for her and was still trying to make it big in the music business. And they still lived the Bohemian life style. Lots had changed though, as she was told. Maureen and Joanne had flown to Denmark and gotten married. Maureen finally had a real job, a theater teacher at Angel's high school. Mark was making documentaries, and had won some awards. And despite what everybody had thought, Collins was still alive and was teaching at NYU. "God Mark I'm up! Speaking of being late didn't you have an interview with some producer?" Angel said emerging from her bedroom. "Shit! I knew there was something I forgot. See you later I have to go." Mark said rushing out the door. Angel laughed, Typical Mark. After eating breakfast Angel decided that she probably should go to school, Maureen had threatened to tell Rodger if she skipped again.

"Angel guess what!" It was Keith. Keith was Angel's oldest friend. Keith was Collin's adapted son. Even though he was a year younger than her they were both in there sophomore year. "I have to get to homeroom, tell me quick." Angel said, not wanting to get in trouble with Rodger. "Joanne says she can get me a summer internship with her law firm!" Keith said smiling. Keith had always wanted to be a lawyer. Angel wasn't sure what she wanted to be. "That's great Keith! I'm really happy for you. I have to get to class though, or Rodger will find out and kill me." Angel said rolling her eyes. "Ya he'll probably make you sit through another one of his practices. I still don't get why you don't call him dad though." Keith said laughing and walking off. Angel didn't call Rodger Dad because she couldn't think of one thing he had done to deserve the title. If she was going to call anybody Dad it would have been Mark, but she had always refrained from doing so. Angel sighed and headed off to class.

After sitting through A.P Psychics and Advanced History Angel decided she had had enough learning for one day. She would get the homework online later. Not that her teachers really noticed or cared if she wasn't there. As long as she continued to ace all the testes they marked her as present. It was sort of an unspoken deal. Angel left the building and after situating herself on a park bench pulled out her cell phone and called Chris. Chris was he other oldest friend. They'd been friends since first grade. "I assume your cutting?" Angel said not even bothering to say hello. Chris cut almost more than her. He had gotten him self a job designing clothing for a little store in Soho. "Of course I'm not is school honey. I had to see what the lady thought of her dress. By the way she loved it. I'll meet you at the life café in 20 minutes. Kisses. Bye." Chris said hanging up.


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry about the long wait. I'm also sorry about the confusing paragraphs. I just had to quote one review because it mad me laugh so hard "If your going to wrtie then learn to spell." - a no name review. Personally this was pretty funny because this person has worse spelling than me.

The plot thickens and you find out some secret stuff. Also Collins is a big part of this chapter Ya! Please review. No flames though.

Chapter 2

"You skipped school again?" Rodger yelled. Maureen had found out, and as promised had told Rodger. "I have straight A's. And the teachers don't care." Angel said not really paying attention. "I don't care if you're the smartest girl in the world, you are going to school! You will not turn out like your mother!" Rodger continued to scream. Angel continued to ignore him. "You will listen to me." Angel just rolled her eyes and took her pills. "You will not end up addicted to drugs and on the street. I will not let that happen. You will not have you mother's life." Rodger said continuing to yell. Angel rolled her eyes, "You mean I won't have your life. You can't even admit. It's always my mothers fault. Rodger you are one messed up man. You did the same thing she did, twice. Before you knew her and when she died. I'm not stupid. I didn't even really live with you until I was 3. At least when she quit she stayed off!" Angel said now screaming. She grabbed her bag and rushed out of the apartment. She sometimes couldn't believe how stupid he could be. He really thought she didn't know. She decided to go the one place where she would have someone to talk to.

She approached the red brick building which had always been her second home. She quickly pressed the buzzer. "Keith let me in. It's Angel." She said. The door quickly unlocked itself. Preferring to use the stairs as opposed to the elevator, she pounded up 12 flights. And was let into the apartment. Keith's apartment looked for like a house. For one thing it wasn't a converted store room, but actually an apartment. For another thing it was normally furnished. And for a third an adult was usually home. "Hey Angel." It was Collins. He was in the living room reading something. "Keith is out right now but you're welcome to stay." Angel nodded and sat down. "Since Rodger just got back in town I assume it was another fight?" Collins said, not really asking as much as stating. Angel groaned, "It's the school thing. And I finally told him I knew about the drug thing when I was little. So he will be mad for awhile." Angel said frowning. "He is right about the school thing. I pay good money so your can go to private school. Even if you do get good grades you should still go to class. As for the rest of it and not turning into your mother, well Rodger's Rodger and he aren't going to change. I don't know what he so upset about if you had half the compassion Mimi did I'd think he would be proud." Collins said smiling. "He's been away for a month on some stupid tour that's not going anywhere. And when he finally does get home all he does is yell." Angel said shrugging. "Well he'll be gone soon and it will be just you and Mark again." Collins said. "Was he ever different?" Angel asked. "Ya he was. He was best when he was with Mimi. After April died he was really torn up. But he quit so we all thought at least something good came out of it and then he met Mimi and had you and he seemed so happy. And then of course you mother died. And once again he was back on drugs. And even after he quit them again, he was never the same." Collins said sadly shaking his head. It was clear to Angel the Collins missed his friend as much as Angel missed having a father.

A few minutes later Keith returned. "Hi Keith." Angel said. He nodded already guessing what had happened. "Angels going to be spending the night in the guest room." Collins said. Angel sighed, feeling relieved that she didn't have to ask. She spent a lot of time over there. To the point where it was silly to call it the guest room, more accurately it was Angel's other room. She had cloths in the closet and posters on the wall. "If you want to stay though call Mark on his cell, you know how he gets." Collins said chuckling and heading to the kitchen. Angel nodded and took out her phone. "Hey it's Mark who is this." Mark asked. "It's Angel. I'm spending the night at Collins's. Rodger and me had another fight." Angel declared. Mark sighed and said, "I guessed something like this would happen. I'm sure he'll fill me in on all the details. See you tomorrow then." Mark said hanging up. "Guys, you're on your own for dinner tonight. I have a date, with another professor." Collins said winking and grabbing his coat. "Who with, that blond Lady or the guy with dreads who teaches philosophy?" Keith asked. "The blond girl." Collins said waving and slamming the door behind him. "Isn't this his 7th date this month?" Angel asked. "Ya. Pretty soon he'll have dated every single professor at NYU, The guys and the girls." Keith said laughing. "I thought he hasn't gone out with a guy in awhile?" She asked. "True, but he still does date them. He's already go a date for Saturday with some guy who teaches modern dance." Keith said rolling his eyes. "So where am I calling for dinner? It better be delivery, I'm too tired to go get anything." Keith said fake yawning. "Indian then." Angel said, turning on the TV.

An hour later they were sitting on a couch with to much food watching a bad movie. "You know this is practically a Friday tradition, especially the bad movie part." She said laughing. "Ya, well I like the other tradition better." Keith said setting down his food and leaning over to kiss her. They both new Collins would be gone till morning, and even if he did come home he wouldn't care.


	3. Chapter 3

I'm really sorry for the long wait.My internet has been down for the past 2 weeks. The next update should be up soon. Please read and review.

**IMPORTANT**: there is a little Mark&Roger from this point on. There is not graphic scenes or anything thats not G between them, but they are a couple. Please no flames. If you dont like this stop reading

Chapter 3

Angel decided to leave early the next morning. She quietly slid out of Keith's bed, careful not to wake him. After getting dressed and grabbing her purse, she left and headed for the subway.

Angel rapped loudly on Rodger and Marks bedroom door. It was mark who emerged, wearing only boxers looking disoriented and tired. "Your back; isn't it kind of early, it is Saturday?" Mark asked yawning. "Couldn't sleep in. I decided I'd better come home. And yes, I'll still hold up the charade that I don't know what's going on between you and Roger. Does he really think I'm that stupid?" She asked flopping down on the couch. Mark continued to yawn and headed towards the kitchen to make coffee, "No, not really. He just wants to protect you. He's knows he's been a screw up as a father, and I guess he thinks this is the one think he can do that's parent like." Mark said shrugging. She nodded, Rodger was not the best father, but he did try. "I have a question for you, how do you get a guy to make it official?" She asked. Mark groaned, "I wouldn't exactly be the person to ask considering I still can't get Roger to admit it to his own daughter. I guess you better just tell him. So who's the guy?" Mark said. "I'd rather not say…" she said dropping off. " Its Keith, I knew something was going on. Be careful, you do not want to get stuck with a baby." Mark said. Angel rolled her eyes, she already knew that. It was nothing new. It was quiet for awhile. Finally about an hour later Roger came out of his room. He was fully dressed and yawning. "Morning Roger." Angel said trying to sound sweet. She was hoping he would forget about yesterdays fight. "Angel. Mark. I need some coffee and then we'll talk about yesterday." He said looking in Angel's direction. She was out of luck. She was glad Mark was there. Roger wouldn't yell at her in front of her Mark. A few minutes later Roger and Mark sat down. It was time to get down to business. "You can't skip school anymore. If I find out you skip school again, you're going to be grounded." Roger said folding his arms. "So we're only gonna talk about school and pretend what I said wasn't mentioned? Typical. And I thought you were actually going to discuss something with me for once. I'm 15 remember." Angel said standing up. "Fine we'll talk about it. What do you want me to say? TO admit I screwed up? Fine, I screwed up. Yes I was a drug addict too. And yes I did start taking again after Mimi died. And yes I barely knew you until you were 4. What else do you want from me?" Roger yelled, his face steadily getting redder. "What I want is next time for you to tell me that. What I want is to know you. To not have to ask somebody else to find out things about you; that is all I want." Angel was also yelling now. She fled the apartment fighting back tears.

She quickly sent a text message on her phone giving Keith a 911. He would know where to find her. And hour later an out of breathe Keith found Angel sitting in her Mothers old dressing room. It was easy to get in considering they had forgotten to board up the back door. They only came there if something big had happened.

Angel couldn't believe it he had done it again. By the time she got back that night Roger would probably be gone. Making some excuse for having to fly to L.A. Her mother's dressing room had been he secret hiding spot sense she had discovered it when she was ten. That was the year she had found out what her mother had worked as. Previously Mark had led her to believe she had been a dance teacher, But Roger had slipped when he was mad one night and told her. In about a day she found out from Collins that it was the building next door. And that had been it. The whole club was in shambles. It had been closed for about 10 years. A picture of Roger and her mother was still taped to the mirror from when Mimi had been there. A few costumes and a ring were all that remained from her mother. She had never mentioned the ring to anybody other that Keith for fear of what the answer would be. "Hey. You ok? You gave me a 911." Keith said walking over to her. "He blew up again. It was in front of Mark too. He won't let me know him. How does he expect he act when he won't even have a real conversation with me. It wouldn't bother me if I just didn't know my father and was raised by Mark. But the fact that he lives with us but I still don't know him is what bugs me." Angel said shrugging. "You know it's hard for him to open up. He probably thinks he'll loose you too, right after he connects with you. He's obviously still torn up over Mimi. Dad thinks it that you look so much like Mimi is what bothers him. I brought beer by the way. If you need it." Keith said coming to sit down next to Angel. Keith always made her feel better, the reason why she had called him. "I know this is off topic and probably not the time, but are we ever going to make this thing we're doing official?" Angel asked turning to look Keith in the eye. "I hadn't really thought about it. I didn't know you wanted to. If it bothers you thought sure. Do you want some beer now?" Keith asked. It wasn't the answer Angel had been hoping for, but for now it was good enough.

They spent most of night just talking and reminiscing about when they were younger. They used to go down to Province Town in the summer, her, Keith, Mark, Collins, Maureen and Joanne. Usually Roger didn't come down for more than a few days. They had spent there whole summers there. The beach was small and right in the middle of town. Angel and Keith had shared a bedroom in the attic. Those summers were Angel's fondest childhood memories. The best ones were of everybody in the ocean, Her on Marks shoulders and Keith on Collins's, jumping in the waves; Maureen and Joanne near by. Not surprising Roger was never in these memories. But they had sold the house when Angel was 12 that was the year everybody had started to drift away. She sighed, the only thing she had to remember the beach house were photos now.


	4. Chapter 4

I am so sorry for the long wait. I was busy with Regions(tests for NY state) and then i went camping. I hope you like the this chapter. I'll try to update soon. Review please!

Chapter 4

As suspected when she got home that night Roger was gone. "He had a 'Business meeting'. He thinks he'll be back Friday morning. Which basically means he will since I find out if I won for that independent film thing." Mark said rolling his eyes. He was making dinner, as he liked to call it. Angel thought making chocolate cookies didn't qualify as dinner. "By the way, just out of curiosity. Were my mom and Roger ever engaged?" Angel asked offhandedly. "No they weren't. Roger didn't believe in marriage. She wanted to get married though after she found out she was pregnant. But Roger didn't like the idea. Why do you ask?" He said shrugging. "No reason, just curious. One more question. When was this photo taken?" She had finally removed the photo from her mother's dressing room. "That would have been taken New Years 1989. Where on earth did you find that?" Mark asked, looking more closely at the photo. "Oh, um I was just going through my stuff; While I was a, cleaning my room." She said looking down at her feet. "I know that's not true just from looking at your room. I'll let you get away with it for now, but tomorrow you're telling me." Mark said winking. Angel shrugged.

The next day her and Mark went to the Cat Scratch Club. "How long have you been breaking in here?" Mark asked in awe. "Since I was ten and I found out she was stripper." She said smiling. "Here I'll show you my mom's dressing room." She said dragging Mark down the dark hall. "I remember this place. Me and her and Roger used to hang out here sometimes after her shows. It was a lot cleaner then." Mark said chuckling. "She never did get to completely clean out this place. I wonder if she still had stuff in that secret drawer." Mark said bending down and pulling at the base of the makeup counter. It popped open revealing a few items. They were: A picture of Roger, a $20 bill, a piece of paper folded in half, and cross on a chain. "Figures there would still be stuff in there. I remember this cross, it was the only thing she had from her mother. I guess it's yours now. I have no idea what this note is though." He slowly unfolded the paper. A quickly scrawled note was written. It said: Good Luck on tonight's show. I'm not mad at you. I just wasn't suspecting it. Being a father will be great, I'm sure we'll be great parents. And we'll both be around to see our baby graduate high school. I guess I'm getting a little ahead of myself. Anyways, love you always, Roger. Angel couldn't believe it. He had wanted to be a father when he had heard. She guessed that the only reason he was excited was because Mimi had been excited. "That's nothing that interesting. Hey what's that…?" Mark said pointing to the ring on the counter. "Oh, that, that's nothing." Angel said grabbing for it. But was to fast and he quickly had it in his hand. It was pretty ring, platinum with a little sapphire. "This is a nice ring. I've never seen it though. Who knows?" Mark said shrugging. Angel nodded. "Look Mark I was wondering if you could tell me something. I've never heard exactly what happened. And I'm definitely old enough to know. I mean I've always wondered. What exactly happened the night my mother died?" Angel asked, looking Mark right in the eye. "I don't know why no one has ever told you this story. I'll tell you everything I know. Mimi stopped dancing here when she was about 3 months pregnant. She never cleaned the place out because she always planned on coming back to work. The night she died you were about 2 months old. She and Roger had decided that she wouldn't go back to dancing, so she was doing one final performance that night. We were all at the life café waiting for her to be done. She and Roger had an announcement. My guess is they were buying an apartment sense I had seen him looking in the reality section a few weeks earlier. It was about midnight ………._'Roger would you please stop fidgeting. It's really annoying!" Maureen said rolling her eyes. 'Fine, if I have to. She'll be here in a few minutes she said 12:30 at the latest.' Roger said drumming his hands on the table. It was quiet for a few minutes. All of a sudden the restaurants door burst open and a very out of breath Casey entered. Casey was another dance at the Cat Scratch Club. 'O my god, Roger. I'm so sorry. She was fine before. I found her in her dressing room.' Casey said starting to cry. 'What are you talking about, where's Mimi?' Roger asked confused. 'Roger I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.' Casey said continuing to repeat the phrase crying. That was when I realized what had happened, 'Casey, did she go to the hospital?" I asked, starting to panic, I assumed she was just sick. Roger was still confused, but the others had started to realize what was going on. 'No, she didn't make it. I knew she had to meet some friends, so when she didn't come out after 20 minutes, I went to check on her. I found her on the floor, but by that time she was already…' Casey dropped off, starting to cry again. That was when Roger realized, 'Dead.' He said a blank look on his face…_He handed me you, and then he left. That's all I remember." Mark said looking sad. "Thank you for telling me. I have to get going. On your way out make sure to leave the latch off." Angle stood up and left. Her face a little stonier than before.


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry about how short this chapter is. I just wanted to make sure i posted something. The next chapter will be updated soon, hopefully. Idont plan on adding unless i get 5 reviews though. Thanx. Hope you like.

Chapter 5

It was an engagement ring. Angel sighed and frowned. That had been what the announcement was. Central Park was quiet, she liked the weird peace. Angel thought a lot about when she had been little. Roger had been her idol. Even though he was never around, when he was she enjoyed it. He had never been exactly friendly to her, but it had just all seemed well when she was little. The peace between them stopped when she was 10, on her birthday to be exact. That was the night she had found out what her mother had really done for a living, and the night she had learned her father was a jerk…

_They were at a roller skating rink somewhere in Brooklyn, the party Angel had asked for. A bad pop song played in the back round. To the right a disco ball flashed and a small dance floor was piled with preteens. Angel had about 12 friends with her. About four of them were boys, this included Keith. Roger was at a table in the corner talking with Joanne, Collins and Maureen. Mark, of course had his video camera out. Angel had been having fun and had even convinced Roger into letting her bye a black belly shirt for the occasion. She had always loved to dance, taking after mother. And when a JLO song came on she couldn't resist the urge to show of. It lasted about 30 seconds. Until she pulled a stomach roll move that sent Roger storming over. He was screaming, "You will never do that again? Do you understand me! I will not have you become a stripper like you mother. You will never do that. So don't you ever act like a slut again!" He yelled. Angel's friends had stopped dancing and were just staring. Roger then stormed out of the building. _That was the last time Angel could remember liking him.


End file.
